


A Hidden Life, A Widow's Life, A Father's Life

by ShimmeringDarkness



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/M, Father Spencer Reid, Spencer Reid has a daughter, Widowed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:15:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26842720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShimmeringDarkness/pseuds/ShimmeringDarkness
Summary: When Spencer Reid is kidnapped again, by Tobias Hankel's younger brother no less, you just know the fallout's going to be dramatic. When the tentative life he builds after that goes up in flames and his wife is murdered, he has to restart, again, and it'll be hard, but with the team by his side, our favorite genius can figure it out.Apologies for grammatical or spelling errors now.
Relationships: Spencer Reid/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

Spencer Reid fought the monsters that nighttime plagued him with, every night since he joined the BAU, ever since he was kidnapped, tortured and drugged by Tobias Hankel. Gideon had left in the middle of his healing after that case, but slowly, he had latched onto David Rossi, who had taken his place. Though he would never fully be perfectly healed again, he was okay, he was doing well. Until the most recent case that was the current reason Spencer woke up dripping sweat, craving drugs, and terrified out of his mind as he blinked himself awake in his lit up bedroom, barely able to stand any kind of darkness anymore.

No one knew how they’d missed it, Garcia blamed herself, so did Hotch, JJ too, really the whole team, even Dave felt guilty though he hadn’t been on the first Hankel case, he’d heard all about it, basics from Aaron and as his father-son relationship with Reid had grown, learned the rest of the details from him. No one had predicted, or ever realized that Hankel had a younger brother who was out for revenge. The team had been called out to Georgia and were naturally on edge ever since that fateful case, but no one predicted when the basic serial killer who was simply good at covering his tracks, took their youngest agent, that it would be Tobias Hankel’s younger brother out for revenge against the man who killed his brother 3 years prior. It had taken the day only 2 days to find their youngest agent, but to their horror, it was in the same barn that had terrorized their youngest agent for years. The only thing they could be grateful for was that Matthias Hankel hadn’t replicated his brother’s drug use, simply choosing to keep the agent in pitch blackness and come in to beat him when he felt like it.

The team got to the barn just under 48 hours later, and Spencer was severely dehydrated, as well as vomiting from the lack of food, having received no food or water since his capture. Fighting severe cravings that the case brought up, as well as spending a few days in a hospital fighting doctors and nurses trying to give him opioids, and he was still exhausted by the time he came home from the hospital. Derek had spent the next week with him at home, and helping him through the nightmares, and getting sleep deprived himself as Spencer insisted on having every light in the apartment on. Derek didn’t mind though, he would do anything for the man he called his little brother.

Derek had returned to work after numerous assurances that Spencer would be okay, and slowly Spencer had been feeling safer in his home, but still slept with his bedroom lights on, just dimmed slightly. After the case Garica had searched exhaustingly, now guaranteeing there were no living family members of either Hankel brother and that the whole nightmare could be slowly put to permanent rest.

There was just one problem, Spencer didn’t know how much more he could take. He wasn’t sleeping, could barely eat, nearly had a panic attack if a shadow fell over him. Hotch and Erin had both personally offered him as much time as he wanted, Strauss had even gone so far as to offer the young man, who once she had dropped most of her ice queen persona, found herself caring for him nearly as much as her own children, had offered him to take a year off and they would bring a training recruit in from the academy, but when he wanted to come back, his spot would be waiting.

Spencer had thought about all the offers, very in depth, but decided right now, it just wasn’t the best for him to continue a career in the FBI, though it nearly broke his heart to let go of the one family he had, the one group of people who always cared, and the job that had been his life for so many years. Maybe he would go into academia, maybe he would get some more degrees and go from there. Maybe in 15 or 20 years, he might try to come back to the BAU, but for now, he knew he had to say goodbye.

Therefore, before his scheduled leave was up, he fired off an email to Hotch and Strauss requesting a meeting. He knew they would both have somewhat of an idea of what he needed before the meeting even occurred, that was why they had both tried to give him alternative offers to just flat out leaving. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning brought Spencer making a mournful drive to FBI headquarters at 9:30. Hotch had confirmed they didn’t have a case to go out on, so the meeting was still on.

By 10:30 the whole team was staring at Hotch's office with a mix of anticipation and fear.

They were assuming the worst, having come back before his leave was up, and his sad expression, combined with both Hotch and Strauss in there, they were worried.

The door slowly creaked open, and the BAU members took in nervous breaths as Hotch came out first, his eyes tired and weary but his face blank. Reid came out second, looking ten times more tired than Hotch did, black circles under his eyes, and his clothes sagging off his thin frame. It was obvious to them all that he hadn't been sleeping well, and if the puffiness around his eyes was any indication, the conversation had been a tearful one, not a good one.

Strauss was the last to exit, looking surprisingly somber.

Hotch pulled Reid into an uncharacteristic hug, murmuring something in the young genius’ ear. Reid returned the hug gently before pulling away and looking to Strauss. The older woman pulled him into a gentle hug as well, somehow not surprising the profilers, as they had all noticed when she connected with the team better, she had taken a particular hovering and cared for the young doctor. Looking mildly uncomfortable, Reid allowed Erin to do so, tears blinking in both people’s eyes.

Pulling away, Reid smiled at both of his now, they could only assume ex, superiors lightly, though pain still evident in his eyes, before making his way into the bullpen and staring at his team-mates with regret.

"I'm sorry..." He managed to choke out before the tears broke through and the BAU members all embraced him in a large familial hug, their own tears also breaking through.

Spencer Reid was leaving the BAU.

When they all finally pulled away JJ spoke quietly through her tears “You have nothing to be sorry for Spence, you need to take care of yourself first, and if this is the only way to do it, we’ll all support it.”

Spencer braced himself against the railing before clearing his throat to speak, as the older agents joined the team to wish the young man well.

“Thank you guys, for everything, the good and the bad throughout these years, has all helped me grow so much. I don’t promise a lot because I don’t break my promises, so I only promise something I know I can keep, so here’s my promise to all of you right now. This may be goodbye for a long time, but it won’t be forever. Even if it’s years down the road, someday, I’ll surprise all of you when you least expect it, so all of you need to promise me that you’ll be here and be okay, when I’m ready to come back. I just want you guys to know, I’m leaving DC, and selling the apartment. Please don’t try to track me down before I’m ready, I’m sure Garcia could in an emergency though. I’m not going somewhere totally out there though, the team has connections there, just enough for me to be able to smile and remember you guys. I’m going to keep an eye on you guys though, maybe I’ll surprise you with help every so often when I’m feeling better. I’m not okay right now, but I will be, and god forbid anything happens to me, I’m leaving Hotch on as a last resort emergency contact, because I wouldn’t want you guys to think I abandoned the team. I’m about to cry again and I’ve been doing that too much lately, but my last little thing for each of you guys. JJ, I love you like an older sister, and I regret every minute of the fights between us, what seems like ages ago. I need to make a clean break from this life for a little while, but I promise I’m not abandoning Henry. It might take 2 years, it might take 5, but I’ll come back into his life again, I promise. Dave, you were the first father figure to never abandon me when I needed you, and I’ll always be grateful for that. And just a reminder, you’re surrounded by profilers every day, you and Strauss can stop trying to hide your relationship when even I figure it out.”

The team laughed at the break in the sadness of the moment as Reid turned to Strauss and continued “Erin, your hatred of our team was well known, but when you came around, you did it well, and I have to say, I’m grateful for what you do for the team. Hotch, you mentored me from day one, even when you didn’t hide it very well that you thought Gideon was nuts for bringing me to the team, so thank you. You’re an amazing boss and an even better father, and I hope I can eventually be half the father you are to Jack. Penelope, you light up every day of this job, you’re positive and happy and brilliant, don’t ever change, I love you like the crazy siblings that you love even if you think they’re a little out there, it suits you perfectly. And I will finally move into the 21st century now that I have some time, and learn computer-y things. Emily, you’re the kickass older sister that protected me no matter what, and though I miss the years you weren’t here, I think we made the best of the years since that. Derek Morgan… you were there for me no matter what, you never judged, always took care of me, were the best over protective older brother I could’ve ever asked for, the best friend to me no matter what, and I’ll always be grateful for everything you did, from making my coffee perfectly, to forcing me to crash your family’s christmas in Chicago and giving me one of the happiest holiday memories of my life, and making me realise that the cold and snow wasn’t always so bad. I promise I’ll see you guys again, for now don’t come looking for me, I have to do this, for myself. I really can't see any other option, but, if you ever need my help, really need it, I'll be here, be wherever, before you can even hang up the phone I’ll be on the plane.”


	2. Chapter 2

It had been 5 years since they had seen the genius in person. Like promised, they didn’t keep tabs on him or try to force him to talk to them or come back, but he had gone above and beyond on his promise that he wasn’t totally disappearing, and the team couldn’t be more thankful. It also seemed Reid had kept his promise to learn ‘all things techie’ as Garcia had squealed when Hotch got the first message just over 8 months after Spencer left the team. They hadn’t replaced him, sometimes bringing on temporary or training agents for a month or so, but Hotch had managed to prove that the team could survive without another permanent member, and that they would call in another agent for the cases that needed another person. Strauss had hesitated, but given in, not really ready to replace the younger agent yet either. The first email had come when they were on a case in Oregon. The team was struggling to catch a serial killer who seemed to have almost no type, only that they lived in a poorer area of the city, and all the victims had been relatively uneducated, most having not attended or finished college. Besides that, their profile had massive holes, and Garcia’s geographic profile program they had been using without Reid there wasn't accurate enough to give them any usable leads. The team had settled into their 6th day at the station and were going over new plans and profile options when Hotch’s computer had binged with an alert. Hoping it was a useful email from Garcia, his jaw dropped when he opened the email before an uncharacteristic smile crossed his face. The team was at his side hoping it was good news, and it was, just not what they were thinking.

_ Hi guys, _

_ I know it’s been quite a few months, and I’m still not doing amazing, but it’s slowly getting better. I miss every one of you so much, but I think going back to DC would be a bad idea right now. I told you guys before I left I would be keeping an eye on you all, and I have been. It’s been a while but I still know JJ’s ‘we have nothing but I need to reassure the public face’ when she’s giving a press conference, so I know you’re on a tough case, you guys can do it but I figured this would be a good time to check in and let you know I’m okay. I kept my promise to Garcia and learned a lot of things about technology and computers. It turns out that my engineering degree came in really handy, I actually built a really powerful computer, but I also learned some hacking and other skills along the way. Don’t worry Hotch, I won’t get myself arrested and recruited to the FBI. I went back to school and got, of all things, a masters in Biology and Human Sciences, in only a couple of months, before going to med school. I figure it would still be busy and use my brain, but it would be a nice change of scenery. I got exceptions made with the dean and I’m already over halfway through and I really like it. Not quite as much as the team but it’s good. Also, with my computer knowledge, I’m sorry, but I’m not quite ready to be found yet, so tell Garcia sorry but she can’t track where the IP address came from. _

_But back to the main reason I emailed, other than a life update in one paragraph, I figured you could use some help. I found the victims’ locations through_ ** _perfectly legal I promise_** _means available to the public and I was thinking about patterns, I know, I can’t shut it off, just listen for a minute. I think since it seems that most of the victims all only completed more basic education and live in a lower end side of town, the unsub might be using more advanced concepts to kill them. I think I figured it out here, I believe he is using a fibonacci spiral to choose his victims with the starting point at the town square where the bodies are being found. Put a Fibonacci spiral over a map of the city and you should be able to find his next victim before he gets there._

_ Bye guys, hope everything’s going well at home for you guys!  _

_ \- Pretty Boy, Reid, Spence, Spencer, Dr. Spencer Reid, 187, Boy Wonder, etc. _

The team all had smiles on their faces as they read the email. Derek spoke first saying “Damn, who knows how many miles away and not even in the FBI anymore and he’s still solving cases for us. I’m impressed his computer skills have gotten that good though, and that he’s keeping that close of an eye on the team while apparently going to medical school? I wouldn’t have predicted that one, but it’s good that he’s doing better.”

The team agreed and Hotch shook his head “Alright, we’ll ponder later on the plane, let’s test his theory and catch this SOB.”

Similar emails had come over the next few years, some case related only, others with brief updates that he was okay. He didn’t venture into much of his personal life or where he was at all, but he gave them brief notes about how he was actually enjoying being a doctor more than he thought he would, and occasionally they would get a link to an article he’d published, sometimes useful to the BAU, other times they just read them and thought about Spencer writing and researching like only he could.

The whole team missed him desperately and had started to accept that they just may never see the young genius again, after all, it had been almost exactly 5 years since he left the BAU, just a few weeks shy of it actually. They had long ago decided they weren’t going to stop talking about him, they still talked about him and how useful it would be to have him around at random points in time. They were all subconsciously accepting that they likely wouldn’t see him again, but Hotch still talked about him when Jack would ask about Spencer, and JJ made sure to talk about her son’s godfather and was always slightly proud when he would ask if his Uncle Spence would be proud of some accomplishment.

It was then that the delicate balance of life that Spencer had created after he moved away from DC, that the team had no idea about, crashed out from under him leaving him floundering.

Back in DC the team was gathering in the round table to go over a new emergency case. Women were being killed every 3 days with no breaks, no pattern, no evidence, and no identifiable victimology, beyond the women being blond, that was it. They were in a rush and had no place to start, even the usual happiness the team had as an undercurrent when the team had a case in or near Chicago, because Fran always took such good care of them and she loved to cook for them and mother them, was nearly nonexistent they were so focused on the case. Additionally, it was late in the day, nearly 6:00 and the team was about to go home when JJ had got the urgent call in on the case. Another body was due that night and the captain was getting frantic, so he had finally allowed the detective to call in the BAU. They were at 4 victims with no sign of stopping or hesitancy on the bodies. The women were killed in their houses, and discovered by some family member usually within a few hours. The women had all been home alone at the time so there were no possible witnesses either. 

They had been in the air about an hour when Garcia called in with a frown on her normally happy face. “I just got an update from Detective Williamson, they got another body. The email’s just a brief overview but the husband found her body when he got home from to take his daughter to ballet and he saw his wife’s body lying on the living room floor of their guest house. He was on the phone with her when he heard glass breaking and then the phone was dropped. According to him he quickly looked for his daughter finding her in a back bedroom of the attached guest house, with blood on her hands and chest as though she had tried to hug her mother after she had been killed”

Hotch stopped Garcia with a question “Wait, Garcia, what did you just say, do we actually have a witness?”

“Oh uhm… well I suppose it’s possible but the email doesn’t say if she saw anything, but she is only 4, her mom probably heard someone breaking in and tried to get her to hide in the main house, most parents would want to protect their child, and at some point the daughter went down to her mom. The officer, and the dad’s guess was that if the child saw her mom like that she got spooked and ran away, there’s no guarantee she saw anything or that she would be able to say if she did anyways. But case wise same as all the others, same amount of nothing from the body, she’s blond, stabbed to death, just like the others. Bossman, I really don’t think you should count on a four year old as a witness, I’m just saying.”

Hotch nodded “It’s the first potential slip up this unsub has made though. We’ll land pretty late for a young girl like that, when we land we’ll get to the station and start looking into the women so far and see how this newest woman…”

“Amelia June Mason” Garcia filled in.

“Right, how Mrs. Mason fits in the picture.”

The team lapsed into silence thinking how yet another body dropped with just as much nothing, but little did they know that one victim with nothing to help their case, would actually break it wide open, as well as revealing all the personal details that a certain someone had been hiding from them. They landed in Chicago almost exactly 2 hours later, and got settled into the conference room, before Hotch sent everyone to the hotel saying that they wouldn’t get much sleep once they had anything to go off, so to get some sleep that night.

The next morning the team was working diligently in the conference room, waiting until 8:30 to interview victims’ was an unspoken rule not to bother them even more until it was a decent hour. Garcia was researching furiously for anything in her lair back in Quantico. JJ was trying to put together a press release and looking over the women’s files of what Garcia had been able to find on each of them so far when she slammed the file she was working shut groaning into her hands “We have absolutely nothing! Nothing! And these women are getting killed left and right!”

Derek rubbed the blonde’s shoulder, “We’ll get something JJ, he already slipped up with the little girl, we’ll get him and he’ll pay.”

JJ sighed and nodded “Yeah I know, I’m just slightly rattled. We got this.”

Understanding lit the team's eyes and Hotch looked at her gently “If you’d rather stay at the station JJ we can manage interviews without you?”

JJ shook her head “No, I’ll be fine, thanks though.”

The team got back to work but Hotch paused in thought before quietly saying “We need help guys. This is a mess.”

The team nodded but Dave was the one to say “But who? We’re the ones people call when they're out of their league.”

Hotch pulled out his phone both hopeful and regretting what he was about to do already as he thought about Spencer’s last sentence to the team before he walked out of the bullpen for the last time  _ ‘if you ever need my help, really need it, I'll be here’ _

The phone picked up and he spoke quickly “Garcia, I need a number…”

Little did any of the team know what was going on at a house out in a wealthy neighborhood in the suburbs of Chicago.

A frazzled father was pacing in his bedroom trying to quiet his daughter who was screaming for her mother, control his ever growing rage, and fight back yesterday’s memories when the whole nightmare started.

_ The plush white carpet and light gray walls backed the happily decorated living room of the guest house, separated from the main 2 story house only by a doorway for when the wife who lived there’s in-laws came to visit. The normally clean room, a sharp contrast to the blood spray coating the carpet in a dark red and the splatter on nearby furniture. A precocious 4 year old in a light pink tutu clung to her father sitting in the living room in the main house. The front of his daughter was coated in blood that had since been transferred to her father’s shirt, but he didn’t mind, didn’t notice any of it. He was focused on comforting the crying girl in his arms, and talking to the officer interviewing him. It didn’t matter that 5 years and 3 weeks ago was how long ago it had been since he’d held his own badge for the last time, he could have predicted each and every question the young officer asked him. His daughter was 4, nearly 5 years old, and her mother had just been brutally ripped away from her. _

_ "So you found her when you arrived home." _

_ The man nodded, his medium length brown hair falling over his face slightly as he did so. "I was picking my daughter up to take her to ballet class." _

_ "And did you have any contact with Mrs. Mason before your arrival to pick up your daughter?" _

_ The man nodded again. "I phoned her briefly when I left the hospital to tell her I was going to be able to take Olivia after all, I hadn’t been sure if I would be able to leave in time. She sounded fine but then I heard, I heard what sounded like glass breaking, and the thing is, we have really good security, I’ve had, um, I’ve been scared about my security before so our house was very secure, and very hard to get into… ” _

_ "What happened after the glass broke?" _

_ "I raced home as fast as I could, but by the time I found Amelia…. I was too late… I was, I found her… I ran through the house looking for her, and when I finally found her, she was in the guest house and the door that connects them was swinging open. I don’t know why she was over there, her parents are…. were coming next week to celebrate Liv’s birthday a couple weeks early because it was the only time they could get down." The man trailed off, using his free hand to wipe away the tears that were dripping down his face. The officer didn't expect him to continue. _

_ "And your name sir?" _

_ "Reid." The man replied. "Dr. Spencer Reid." _

_ “Very well, we’ll be in contact if we have more questions. Where are you planning on staying?” _

_ Spencer breathed in shakily before looking at the girl on his lap and saying “I-I think we’ll stay here in the main house, I don’t want to uproot her more than I have to. I have a security door I can fit over the door to the guest house, I’ll put that up and lock it. That should be okay for a few days until I figure out a better place, I just don’t want to force her into a hotel.” _

Spencer shook off the memories as he left the room still walking as Olivia slowly started settling in his arms just as his phone vibrated against his side. Pulling it out one handed while continuing to walk with the toddler in his other arm, he noticed Penelope Garcia’s number on the caller ID and sighed. He knew it would have to be a bad case for them to break their 5 year silence, but he just couldn’t right now. He needed to focus on helping the police find the monster who killed his wife. Had he checked up on his old team lately, he probably would’ve realized they were in Chicago right now, working on her case themselves, but he hadn’t.

He answered fully prepared to shoot down whatever she asked without telling any of his well hidden secrets that he had never included in his update emails.

"Penelope?"

"Spencer..." Garcia's soothing, gentle voice flooded his ear.

"Hey." Reid couldn't help but smile at the sound of her voice.

"I...um..." She managed to get a hold of herself. "Hotch wants to talk to you. I'm gonna patch you through."

There were the distinct beeps as the line was patched to Hotch, wherever he was in the country compared to Garcia in DC. There would only be one reason why Hotch had told Garcia to track down his number, and he knew what he had told the team when he left, but he was glad he hadn’t promised to be available to help on cases, because it would’ve been a promise he couldn’t keep.

"I can't," He said, before the other had a chance to speak.

"Reid?" Hotch's voice rang out.

"I can't," Reid repeated. "I can't help you."

Hotch sighed. "I wouldn't be calling if it wasn't life or death."

Reid shook his head. "I can't...I...I'm sorry, not right now, I wouldn’t be any help." That was all he got out before pressing the end call button.

The phone clattered to the counter of the kitchen where he had walked to unconsciously, and Reid leaned heavily on the counter, a few tears falling down his face as he pulled his daughter tight to him

He knew that Hotch wouldn't be ringing if it wasn't necessary, but there was no way he could go on any kind of case, not now.

"Daddy?"

He had a different job to do, and as he remembered what he had told Hotch in his little pieces of advice, that he hoped he would one day be half the father to his child Hotch was to Jack, he could only hope he would be able to do that on his own now.

Back in the station’s conference room, Hotch sighed as he put the phone down. He had thought that there was a chance that Reid might say no, after all it had been nearly 5 years since he had left, but he hadn't been expecting the young former agent to say no so quickly.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What did he say?" JJ quickly asked him, only a small smile gracing her face though Hotch could tell that she was actually more hopeful than she was letting on. He hated that he was about to disappoint her.

"He can't help us" Hotch replied, turning away from JJ to face his window and the clear blue sky which lay beyond.

The BAU team sat in silence, each of them having had a small bit of hope that Reid would come back to them, at least for one case, that he would do his magic and break the case for them.

It was Emily who broke the silence as she looked up from the laptop she was working on researching the latest two victims on to help out Garcia; "Hotch?"

The stoic man looked at Prentiss with an abnormally confused expression on his face. "Yes?”

"I know why Reid didn't want to help out." She turned her laptop to face Hotch. "He's Amelia Mason’s husband. I doubt he even knows we’re working the case he’s probably so messed up with his own problems."

A photo of Reid and Amelia was clearly displayed on the screen; the BAU members all shocked by this sudden turn of events.

Derek spoke up first “Wait, so Pretty Boy’s a dad then? To a four year old little girl? And he’s living in Chicago?”

Emily nodded and said “Yeah, their daughter’s name is… oh my goodness that cannot be a coincidence.” A smile crossed her face as her eyes teared up slightly and Derek looked at her “What’s not a coincidence?”

“Their daughter’s name is Olivia Elizabeth Reid.”

“Okay…?”

JJ spoke up “My middle name is Olivia and Em’s is Elizabeth. Before Spence left, he was over for dinner once and how Will and I named Henry came up and he, I thought he was joking, had said that if he ever had a daughter did I think Em would be okay if he named her after one of us. I guess he chose both.”

The rest of the team smiled for a moment, surprised he had kept his marriage and daughter from them, though it explained why he’d kept much of his personal life out of his emails.

Eventually Aaron spoke up “I know this is personal now, because Reid will always be a part of this team, this family no matter if he’s on it literally or not, but we can’t let this change the case. We need to talk to him as Amelia Mason’s husband.”


	3. Chapter 3

Back at Spencer’s house, Olivia had finally fallen back to sleep, and he took her into the living room laying her on a flattened recliner, so she would still be in his sight. He had kept her in his bedroom last night pretty unable to let her out of his sight for more than a minute or two, even in their house.

Spencer retrieved a mug of coffee from the kitchen before returning to the living room to stare at the photos covering the wall. Photos from their marriage and honeymoon and pictures of Olivia growing up. He walked over to a bookshelf and retrieved a scrapbook Amelia had made right when they got back from their honeymoon, settling on the couch to slowly flip through it, barely noticing the tears dripping down his face as he remembered what had happened at each photo. Their small marriage was in a courthouse, her parents were very strict, in a lot of ways they reminded her of Ambassador Prentiss before she and Emily had reconciled their relationship. They had shown up for the wedding, but disapproved of how they were not making it a big enough deal. They visited very rarely, armed with criticisms and critiques, just enough that Amelia couldn’t play the ‘you never visit anyways so I’d rather not have anything to do with you’ card.

He was almost halfway through the honeymoon pictures when there was a knock on the door. He set the scrapbook on the table hoping the knocks wouldn’t wake his daughter up. He assumed it was an officer coming to ask more questions or verify his whereabouts, he didn’t mind, he knew the process. He checked the peephole, nearly letting out a sob when he saw who was out there rather than an unknown officer like he’d expected. 

He rushed to deactivate the security, and undid the multiple locks on the door, pulling it open as he saw two of his best friends standing on his porch for the first time in 5 years 3 weeks and 1 day. They both had gentle smiles on their faces, ones usually reserved for victims, which normally Spencer would’ve hated, but as he saw Derek and JJ standing in front of him, he didn’t hesitate at the long time it’d been since he’d seen them, simply collapsed into JJ’s arms sobbing, after being too strong all night and the morning, bathing his daughter, washing her mother’s blood from her body and tucking her into bed, barely sleeping the night before and then making a simple breakfast for his daughter while coffee was almost to much for him to stomach, he needed someone to hold him up for a change, and his best friends, his older siblings, were the best for that need. He felt Derek step around behind him wrapping strong arms around him as he stood and sobbed.

Finally he pulled himself out of the hug with a soft smile at the two agents. Derek looked at his younger brother who looked lost, floundering no matter how much of a front he put up, his eyes told the truth, and they showed a grieving, devastated widow who had no clue how to raise his 4, almost 5 year old daughter on his own.

Derek smiled at Spencer before quietly saying “Hey Pretty Boy.”

Spencer allowed a slight smile to cross his face at the nickname and stepped back into the house realizing they must be there for a reason “Sorry, come in… I’m guessing you guys got called in for the murders.”

Derek grimaced “Yeah, the whole team wanted to be the ones to come talk to you but JJ and I called best friend privileges.”

Spencer sent his friend a forced smile “That’s okay, I’ll see them later I’m sure… I-I was actually planning on calling one of you guys soon, trying to make a connection again. Mel knew all about you guys, she wanted to meet you eventually, she was encouraging me to get back in contact, more than my simple emails.”

JJ rubbed his shoulder “You weren’t ready. That’s okay, we all understood. The emails were amazing though… I mean you kind of left out a couple big details of your life, but we’ll be okay, well Garcia will be once she meets the little one.”

Spencer smiled “She’s not that little, you do know she’s almost 5 right. As she tells everyone, only 3 weeks away.” His smile faded as he realized her mother wouldn’t be at her next birthday party. Derek grabbed his other shoulder and gently spoke “Do you want to go sit down pretty boy?”

Spencer nodded “Right of course, just uh, I think Liv’s still asleep soo…”

JJ nodded “I get it, I have my own 8 year old at home, remember, take advantage of the nap time.”

Spencer smiled “yeah, she didn’t sleep great last night, and I wasn’t any better, I think both of us could use some nap time.” He led them into the family with both agents, even macho Derek, nearly awwing at the cute blond little girl laying on the sofa. Neither profiler missed the scrapbook laying on the coffee table placed where someone would have been sitting if they were hovering over the 4 year old, which Spencer obviously was, glancing over to her every few seconds. JJ pointed it out “You and Amelia look really happy there.”

Spencer nodded sitting back in his earlier seat next to the sleeping girl as JJ and Morgan sat on the other arm of the sectional. “Yeah, she put together scrapbooks for big things, this was our marriage and our honeymoon, we went to the Cayman islands, it was amazing. Liv has a babysitter for when we’re both working, and she volunteered to keep Liv for the whole 2 weeks.”

The two agents liked getting this glimpse into their friend’s personal life but Morgan couldn't resist the jab “Damn pretty boy, I gotta say when did you get loaded, this house is really nice?”

Spencer sheepishly smiled “Erm, I kinda always have been but I never really showed any of it off, I was too used to hiding having lots of money growing up, you know a rich 13-year-old might draw questions that I couldn’t deal with. Amelia finally helped me get over my mental block of spending it, but this house was actually 50-50, she wasn’t too bad off either, her parents came from old money and lived that kind of life, so we settled on a nice, but not over the top. You know her parents actually remind me a lot of Emily’s mom when she was growing up, only… Amelia didn’t really get the chance to redo their relationship.”

He trailed off and looked at his daughter as his whole countenance slumped down and he gently smoothed out her messy hair. 

The group sat quietly for a few minutes as Olivia slowly stirred and Spencer placed a hand on her back so she wouldn’t fall off as she started to move. She blinked up at her dad before pushing herself up onto her knees and crawling towards him. He smiled at her and said “Good morning again butterfly, how are you now?”

Olivia smiled and curled up on his lap “Hi daddy”

“Hi lovebug, look at who’s sitting over there.”

Olivia turned on her father’s lap and scrunched her forehead as she tried to figure out their names but let out a big toddler breath dramatically and said “I don’t know daddy.”

He looked at JJ and said “Can you grab the picture of the team at the bureau picnic from that shelf there please?”

JJ nodded and got up smiling as she noticed the pictures of the team scattered throughout the pictures of Spencer and Olivia and Amelia. She grabbed the requested photo that had the two little boys of the team as well as the adults and handed it to Spencer who held it in front of his daughter still happily perched on his lap. 

“Liv, can you tell me who these people are?”

Olivia took the photo and pointed “Uncle Dave, Uncle Derek, Aunt Emily, Aunt Penelope, Daddy, Uncle Aaron, Aunt JJ, and that’s Jack and he’s Uncle Aaron’s son and that’s Henry and he’s Aunt JJ’s son.” 

The two agents watched fascinated and Derek muttered to JJ “Either Amelia was a genius too or the little one got all her brains from pretty boy, damn that’s impressive.”

Olivia’s head shot up “That’s a bad word.”

The other two adults laughed while Morgan gaped at the 4-year-old and Spencer snorted “Oh right, I forgot to mention she has really, really good hearing. Although it just seems like you still haven’t learned to whisper so it’s not much of a challenge.”

Spencer turned to his daughter again and said “Perfect baby, so who are the people in front of you?”

She looked between the picture and the agents before smiling “Aunt JJ and Uncle Derek?”

Spencer grinned as did the two agents and Spencer tickled her side “Yeah baby, they are.”

Olivia wiggled off her dad’s lap and ran over to Derek who was closer and put her hands up “Up!”

Derek laughed and picked the girl up who wrapped her arms around him tightly before letting go to crawl towards JJ who was right next to him and do the same. Both agents grinned but while Olivia was distracted with JJ, Derek looked at Spencer “she’s really smart for a 4-year-old.”

Spencer nodded “Yeah, Amelia was smart too, but unfortunately it’s not much of a jump to figure that she got a lot of me in her, fortunately she got most of her looks from her mom.” Olivia dropped down on JJ’s lap who she seemed to really like and said “Daddy always said me and mommy would get to meet all my aunts and uncles eventually. He said he went through some bad stuff but that you guys were okay and you’d be happy to meet me.”

JJ smiled at the toddler “We are thrilled to meet you, you know I bet you’re going to get all kinds of presents from everyone once they meet you too.”

Spencer groaned at the thought and said “Please control Penelope, please?”

Derek laughed “Ha, you know there’s no controlling my baby girl.”

“Really lots of presents? I like presents. Daddy always said that Aunt Penelope gives too many gifts so he’d have to re-res-restrict her.”

The two agents smiled and Derek said “Maybe, but they’re always awesome presents so it’s okay. But you’re daddy talks about us?”

The 4-year-old nodded excitedly “MHM! He said he wanted me to know all kinds of stuff about you guys once I meeted you.”

Spencer didn’t bother correcting her language like usual, she always started to mix up words when she got excited. 

JJ indulged her excitement though “What kinds of things did he tell you?”

The four year old giggled and said “He told me you were pretty and strong and super tough and a really awesome mom except I think my mom might be even better, she’s super awesome, and then she told me Uncle Derek is really strong too and he likes to kick doors down and he’s really funny and likes to tease daddy but not in a mean way.”

Olivia looked at Derek “You shouldn’t break other people’s things, it’s not nice.”

With her message delivered she went back to telling JJ about the people on the team while Derek gaped at the little girl and Spencer failed to smother snickers.

At a certain point though she looked up at JJ’s hair and said “You’re hair looks like mommy’s it’s pretty.” The little girl trailed off as JJ tensed slightly but then the girl pushed away from JJ and ran back over to her dad with tears in her eyes. He scooped her up confused and said “What’s wrong lovebug.” She hit his chest with all the power of a 4-year-old and started crying harder words that could barely be strung together as a sentence. 

“No no mama no, no no red, mama no, mama won’t talk to me no mama please what’s wrong mama.” Spencer shushed the crying girl and stood up to pace the living room with the girl as he had been doing that morning, all the while trying to calm her down, though he knew somewhere in his mind his baby girl had definitely seen her mom after she’d been killed, though they already knew that from the blood on her shirt the day before, that confirmed it. The agents felt heartbroken as they watched the young man try to soothe his daughter who had seen at least something traumatic. Derek wasn’t sure whether to be grateful she might be able to give them a lead or that she might’ve seen something, or heartbroken for yet another agent of their team to be left widowed by an unsub, and another child motherless. When she finally started to settle on Spencer’s hip he kept walking for a minute until she seemed mostly calm and he sat back on the couch with her still attached to his front Derek spoke quietly “Spencer, I hate to do this, but if she saw something, she could be literally the first lead in this whole case.”

Spencer grimaced but nodded as he looked at the little girl “I know, it’s just harder this time…”

Derek understood what he didn’t say though “Because it’s your daughter now, and the woman isn’t just a victim, it’s your wife.”

Spencer nodded “She might remember something, she’s always had a good memory, I think that might be another thing she got from me. Do you want to just talk to her or…?”

He let the question hang in the air and Derek filled it in “She is only four, a cognitive interview might help if she saw something.”

Spencer nodded, “Yeah…. Actually I think I might have a way to help because she’s not going to let go of me for a while now, we’ve been doing this cycle on repeat ever since last night.”

Derek nodded and Spencer pointed to a cabinet under the TV. 

“That top left drawer there, there’s a red bouncy ball can you grab it?”

Derek nodded and retrieved the item, handing it to Spencer who got Olivia’s attention.

“Hey ladybug, can you play a game with daddy right now?”

“A game?”

“Yeah, it’s a memory game, Derek’s going to play too, okay?”

The girl wiped her tears and nodded “I need my ball.”

Spencer nodded and produced it with a smile and the girl grabbed it, squishing it in her hands. The two agents looked confused and Spencer explained quietly “It’s magic and it helps her remember where the cards are. Just go with it.”

They both nodded and Olivia looked around “But there’s no cards daddy?”

Spencer ran his fingers through her hair “No we’re going to play a different way, Derek’s going to ask you to try and remember things and you’re going to tell us what you saw or heard okay?”

“Okay, I’m good at ‘membering things.”

Spencer nodded “I know you are, can you close your eyes though, you might remember more.” 

The girl did and Spencer nodded at Derek who spoke gently, trying to lead the girl through what she might’ve seen.

15 exhausting, horrifying minutes for the adults in the room and terrifying for the toddler, Derek said they were done.

Not only had the girl seen her mother afterwards, but she had hidden when her mom sent her out of the room and told her to be quiet and wait for her dad. The only problem, or technically benefit though it didn’t much feel like it, was where she was hiding. She had gone into a closet door right off the living room of the guest house, and that door had slats so she watched almost the whole thing. A man in a short black sleeve shirt and long black pants had walked into the living room where her mom was. He was just a little taller than her mom and had light skin. He was wearing tennis shoes and had a baseball cap and sunglasses on and long black rubber gloves up to almost his elbow but she could see a little bit of his skin, and he had a dark blackish beard. She said he put a hand over her moms mouth but then she stopped watching because she was scared. She heard her mom scream but knew that she wasn’t allowed to leave the closet to go help because her mom had said she couldn’t come out until Daddy got home. She had looked back a couple minutes later and the man was picking his sunglasses up off the floor where they’d fallen and she saw he had really dark scary eyes but then he left. After a little more prompting from Derek she said he had a drawing on his neck, but she didn’t know what it was. Once the man left the room she said she knew she was supposed to stay in the closet but her mom looked hurt and whenever she got a booboo her mom gave her a hug to make it all better so she thought that if she gave her mom a hug she’d be okay too but it wasn’t working.

When it was finished and she opened her eyes she looked at her dad and said “Daddy I ‘membered lots of stuff, did I do good?”

Spencer nodded “Yeah lovebug, you did really good. You did perfect.”

The girl smiled and laid her head on his shoulder slowly drifting back into dreamland after her dad had stopped her from sleeping to play that game.

Once she was sleeping peacefully Spencer laid her back on the sofa covering her back up with a blanket before getting up and saying “I’m getting some more coffee, do either of you need some?”

Both responded with a desperate “yes!” 

Spencer got up and JJ did too to follow him and Spencer didn’t care but he pointed at Derek and said “Make sure she doesn’t fall off the sofa.”

Derek nodded and watched the little girl sleep peacefully on the couch, before pulling out his phone, shaking his head when he saw he had a large number of text messages from the team. He scrolled through them putting his phone back away just as JJ and Spencer came back in the room and handed him his. JJ pointed to the scrapbook still laying open and said, “Can we see?”   
Spencer smiled and nodded, moving over next to them on the sofa and laying it on her lap.

Every page or so Spencer would glance up at his daughter and smile at her sleeping peacefully, though his heart clenched slightly, at just how similar to his wife she looked. He and Amelia had always joked that as she grew up, it was a good thing he’d kept his gun license active and bought a personal one after leaving the bureau, because they were going to need it to keep the boys away. His smile fell away as he got dragged into his thoughts, until a hand on his shoulder jolted him out of his thoughts.

Derek gave him a rueful smile “Don’t do that to yourself, she’s still going to have an amazing life, and if you’ll have us back in her life, a whole boatload of aunts and uncles to fill whatever place in her life she needs. Even if you don’t, we’ll still be there for you if you need it, always. You’re an amazing dad I can already tell, and I know you’re going to everything you can to give her the best life possible.”

Spencer forced a smile “Yeah, I know, thanks, it’s just, Amelia… she was my rock, she was one of the best things to ever happen to me, even after being married for 4 years, sometimes I would watch her just doing some simple task and I would just sit in awe at how someone like her could love me. She was just so perfect. She was completely devoted to Olivia, the best mom to her I could’ve asked for, dedicated to her job and then she would come home and be here and it was like all the problems I dealt with during the day disappeared. I could talk about complicated cases, morally challenging decisions, and she would listen to me ramble, and then help me figure out answers. She wasn’t a genius or anything, but she was incredibly smart. We would have such odd, but interesting conversations, we could talk about the weirdest thing for hours debating various aspects of whatever it was. She was so perfect for me and she gave me Liv and I… I just have no idea what to do next.”

He sighed at the end and JJ pulled him in for a hug as Derek rubbed his back.

“It’s going to be okay Spence, we’re all going to be here for you, the whole way, and you and Olivia, you’re going to get through it and it’s going to be okay.”

Spencer nodded and leaned back against the couch. “Eventually, I know that’s true, I just, I feel lost. Like I need to deal with a funeral, and I still don’t think her parents know, and then I have to figure out some way to tell my mom, when she was lucid, she absolutely adored Mel and I think Liv knows what’s going on, but I don’t know if she’s in denial or if she doesn’t understand that mommy’s not coming back, but it’s hard, and I look around and I can see her standing there when it took the two of us hours to figure out how to put the TV up, or laying on the floor with baby Liv giggling with her and reading her stories. She helped me through internships, residency, even when I was working nearly 20 hour days to get through everything faster, she would be up waiting for me…”

Derek poked his shoulder “Yeah, med school to become a doctor in yet another way, when are you ever going to stop?” He spoke in a playful tone that made Spencer almost smile.

“I think I’m good for a while, with the little ladybug, school and the hospital probably wouldn’t go together very well.”

Derek nodded and said “You planning on staying here?”

“Here in this house, no, I just couldn’t with my memory. Here as in Chicago, I don’t know, I like it, but I miss the team. I had actually just brought an idea up with Mel about a month ago of coming back to the FBI, trying it out here in a Chicago field office first and seeing how it goes. I like being a doctor, a surgeon specifically, and it’s been a good thing, it’s reminded me of why I joined the BAU in the first place. I see people coming in, victims of awful crimes, and in my heart I know I want to be out there trying to save people before something happens, not trying to save their life on my operating table afterwards. And if I would ever get too hurt to be in the field wherever, I have a backup field now. In the medical community, I’m really well known, near the top of my field for being such a young doctor and doing so well with new and advanced procedures, coming up with new treatment plans, researching new things while advancing and bettering the old procedures.”

Derek smiled “Of course you are, we would expect nothing less.”

Spencer smiled at the jest but stood up and said “I know you guys need to look around, as much as I might wish this was just our reunion happening, there’s a reason for it that I don’t like, and want to solve, so go ahead.”

Derek smiled and stood up saying “You might as well come with us, this place is massive, I’d rather not get lost.”

Spencer rolled his eyes but bent down, easily picking up the sleeping toddler and settling her on his side still conked out.

JJ spoke up “Before we go though, I have a question that both girls demanded an answer to, and I'm curious too, her name, Olivia Elizabeth, is it a coincidence?”

Spencer smiled “There’s not much in my life that’s a coincidence is there Jay? Nope, you guys got it, Olivia from your middle name, Elizabeth from Emily’s. Pen, I figure she would spoil my munchkin enough when she met her she didn’t need that as an excuse, and Mel liked how the names fit together, even if she had never met the people they came from, she saw it as a way of me merging the two pieces of my life together. Olivia, though literally meaning ‘olive tree’ in Latin, among other meanings, can imply strength and femininity, as well as a peaceful disposition. Elizabeth, literally meaning ‘pledged to god’ in its original hebrew, but often associated with elegance or prestige, and view it as a classic or refined name.”

The two smiled at his ramble, almost pleased to hear one having not heard them for so long.


	4. Chapter 4

Spencer started walking through the house, and they followed. They reached the entry hall and he pointed out the front door, “I went a little overboard when Liv was born, our house is extremely secure so either the unsub who did this is one of the luckiest people around, or a meticulous planner and stalker. The entire main house has bulletproof glass on the main floor. The only rooms that haven’t been updated with it yet are two of the bedrooms, the bathroom, and the kitchen window in the guest house. He had a microscopic chance of getting a window he could easily get through if he didn’t know which ones were the reinforced ones.”

Derek spoke up “Why bulletproof, that seems a little, actually more than a little overboard.”

Spencer shot him a look “You haven’t been hit in the head since I’ve been gone and got amnesia have you? You’re talking to the person who’s been kidnapped for multiple days at a time twice, held hostage plenty of others, drugged by one of said unsubs, nearly blown up or shot at more times than I can count, and there are plenty of unsubs we did catch that would like revenge on me or my family. Pardon me while I try to keep my family safe, despite the fact that it obviously failed.”

His venom laced words trailed off and his whole posture slumped as he mumbled “Sorry Derek, you didn’t deserve that.”

Derek shook his head “No, it was a stupid question, you’re entitled to your feelings.” 

They continued walking around, with JJ and Derek profiling what had changed about their younger brother since they saw him last and Spencer pointing out random fun things or notes. He got to Olivia’s door and paused before pushing it open. “I doubt this room would be useful but this is Liv’s room.”

JJ smiled as she looked around and Derek said “Dang pretty boy, this is a little girl’s wonderland.”

Spencer smiled sheepishly “Neither Mel or I had the best childhood growing up, with parents who weren’t really there for us, even if they were physically there, and we both wanted to give everything we could so Olivia has the best childhood possible.”

Derek nodded but knew false reassurances or comforts wouldn’t do much at the moment. They went to Spencer and Amelia’s bedroom and were struck by obviously different tastes, that somehow didn’t look quite too odd mixed together. They went back to the first floor and he showed them his office, full of bookshelves with medical textbooks, as well as books they both recognized from his apartment in DC on profiling and forensics. Though neither voiced the thought they both had it, internally happy that he hadn’t ever given up his interest in the team and the bureau, and always planned to maybe one day come back. They finished in the kitchen and Olivia was partially awake on his shoulder, but showing no signs of wanting to be put down. He maneuvered expertly with the child around the kitchen, impressing the agents at how he’d matured, as he made his usual coffee sugar sludge they were almost pleased to see hadn’t changed. As Spencer poured coffee into two more mugs for each of them JJ walked over and held out her hands saying “Okay, first exercise of one of the namesake aunts, I need to hold the princess.”

Spencer smiled and shifted the girl off her hip and over to JJ. When the girl looked up confused Spencer smiled and kissed her forehead, “You’re fine lovebug, let Aunt JJ hold you for a bit, she’s super awesome, I promise.”

At her daddy’s confirmation, Olivia let her head drop onto JJ’s head neck. She liked the woman holding her, but something wasn’t right and she started fidgeting in her arms. JJ looked at Olivia “Do you want down sweetheart?”

Olivia shook her head but kept wiggling and Spencer noticed and looked over the child’s head to JJ, “Try walking around with her for a bit, she’ll settle down.”

JJ took his advice and almost immediately, Olivia relaxed into her arms, cuddling in closer to the older blonde, making JJ smile.

Spencer gave her a smile “She likes the bounce, she can sit still about as well as I can.”

The two agents chuckled, and as the three adults drank coffee looking at the pictures around the kitchen, Derek’s phone rang and Olivia startled, still in JJ’s arms but relaxed when the shrill sound stopped as Derek put it on speaker so JJ could hear as well at the prompt direction of his boss before he could even say hello. 

Derek then spoke “Alright Hotch, what’s up?”

Hotch spoke up trying to sound annoyed but both profilers and the ex-profiler, could hear the faint twinges of amusement and love in it “I’m going to assume you two are still at Reid’s given that I haven’t heard anything and you’re not back yet?”

Derek looked at a clock muttering under his breath when he realized they’d been there for nearly 2.5 hours. “Er, yeah, we are, is everyone else back?”

Hotch spoke and they could hear his phone go on to the speaker as Emily spoke up “Yeah, we are, we all want to hear about your visit and our favorite genius and you are denying us information, not cool!”

Spencer didn’t bother stifling his laughs and Emily yelled louder “Wait, is he there right now? Reid?”

Spencer spoke up almost shyly “Hi Emily.”

Olivia glared at the phone and scrunched her face up at Emily’s excited squeal that came over the line… and “was that Garcia?” Spencer thought.

Derek spoke up with the same question “Baby girl?”

“Hi Hot Stuff, it’s a conference call, I’m on my way to you guys though, we figured out something else out, I need you and the other crimefighters to get all the women’s laptops, I think he was stalking them through that and pinging where they went throughout the day, as well as turning the webcam on to see if people were home.”

Spencer blanched at the information but shook it out of his head, knowing it was a privilege he was even being told as much as he was since he wasn’t an agent anymore, but one that he appreciated very much.

Spencer walked to JJ and pointed at the laptop sitting on the side table in the living room that he hadn’t touched in the last 24 hours, “That one's hers, do you need mine too?”

Derek heard and voiced the question over the phone “Alright, we’ll bring Amelia’s, pretty boy wants to know if we need his too?”

Garcia spoke up “Nope, we shouldn’t, Hi my perfect vanilla bean!!!! How are you?!!”

She squealed again and Spencer spoke up “I’m doing okay Pen, Hi guys.”

Derek laughed as he caught the four year old’s glare at the repeated squealing and Derek said “I feel the need to inform the squealing women on this call that you are thoroughly pissing off a certain 4-year-old every time you do so.”

The whole team laughed and Garcaia squealed quieter this time “The mini-Reid is there too!? Is she adorable? I bet she’s super cute, boy genius, you and the munchkin better be there when I get to Chicago.”

Spencer smiled “I missed you too Pen, but if I’m being perfectly honest, I’d rather you work on the case.”

The whole team could practically hear her frown over the phone until she spoke up “Well if you’re there then I would have happy fun encouragement since I’m being pulled out of my happy techie lair.”

Spencer spoke up “Pen, I’m not even on the team anymore, I can’t help officially anyways, not to mention no sane person would let the husband of one of the victims of a serial killer work on her case.”

Hotch answered that one “Reid, I have no problem with you coming to the station just so we could all have a little happiness, this case is hard, and tough, for obvious reasons, I think we could all use the cheer up.” Spencer blinked at his ex-boss’ voice before looking at Olivia and lowering his voice, “What do you think lovebug, you want to go meet your aunts and uncles finally?”

“Yes yes yes yes yes!”

Spencer laughed “Alright, Hotch, I think you have your answer, Pen, we’ll be waiting for you.”

“Goody!”

Spencer groaned and Dave spoke for the first time “Reid, you just committed yourself to death by hugging when she arrives.”

Her very high pitched, very loud protest got yet another glare from Olivia at the phone making noise. 

Derek quickly wrapped up the call and looked at Spencer “You know the whole team is going to be anxiously waiting for us now, if you’re okay to go now it might be a good idea.”

Spencer nodded and reached for his daughter but Derek shook him off “Uh uh, Uncle Derek’s turn, I want to hold the munchkin.”

Spencer rolled his eyes but allowed the muscular man to pick up his daughter, the tall toddler, taking after both of her parents, dwarfed by his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck, seeming to not mind being passed around, making her dad grateful she wasn’t putting up a fuss. He grabbed his new messenger bag, that looked similar to his old one but was in slightly better condition, put the picture of the team in for Olivia, and stopped by the mudroom to grab a car bag for the toddler. Amelia had thought of making one when they didn’t need to carry a diaper bag anymore, but the then 3-year-old still spilled on herself sometimes and having a change of clothes was useful, even if they just left it in the car. Derek and JJ followed him out into the mudroom, and watched shocked as he opened a wooden cabinet that needed a passcode to open it, revealing a small black safe requiring yet another 4 digit code, out of which he pulled a small revolver and concealed holster, sliding it under the waistband of his khakis.

JJ noticed something she somehow hadn't earlier, “Wait Spence, your clothes…”

Spencer laughed as he tucked his shirt back in. “Don’t look like an old college professor, yeah Mel helped me figure out how to dress not so awkwardly.”

Derek spoke up “Wait… you still carry a gun?”

“Yup, I still like revolvers better too, but I don’t suck at shooting a glock anymore, I kept working at it. Mel usually carried a glock, she liked it better. We were only a few weeks back from being married and I asked her if she would consider wearing a gun, because I still wasn’t doing great and I was worried someone would come after one of us. We both got concealed carry permits because she agreed easily, and found out she was more comfortable with it. I tried to not carry for a couple weeks after moving here, but it felt wrong not to have something on me to defend myself with.” Derek nodded but spoke hesitantly “In the least rude way possible… we’re going to a police station… and you’re not a cop or an agent anymore.”

“So I shouldn’t be able to carry a weapon in there then right?”

Derek nodded and Spencer pulled his wallet out, pulled out a sheet of paper and held it in front of Derek with a smirk instead of handing it to him as he was still holding Olivia. Derek read over the permit looking confused until he reached the bottom and then his eyes widened. “How the hel...heck did you manage that?”

“Connections, and being an ex-fbi agent helped.”

JJ looked confused as Spencer put the paper back away. “What was that?”

Derek answered “A concealed carry permit, except a note at the bottom from a federal judge saying that pretty boy can carry it anywhere, as if he were still carrying in an official capacity, so into schools, police stations, etc.”

JJ looked at Spencer and he shrugged “I was still suffering severe PTSD and hadn’t figured out how to handle it yet, and all I knew was I wanted to feel safe no matter where I went, so I used some connections and my time in the FBI as well as unclassified circumstances of my leaving to get a special addendum to the concealed carry permit.”

JJ nodded, mulling that over in her head as Spencer pulled one last black thing out of the safe and shoving it in his pocket before relocking both doors.

“Just curious, what was that?” Derek asked.

“My retired credentials, they’re stamped saying I’m not an active agent anymore, like Rossi had before he came back, and they say retired even if you don’t technically retire, the credentials themselves have been retired. I figured it would help in case any locals have an issue with me showing up at the station.”

Derek nodded and the two agents stepped out as Spencer set the alarm, pulling the door shut and locking the deadbolt and handle.

He hit the garage button so they could get to the SUV and he took Olivia back from Derek so he could put her in her carseat before smiling at his friends “I’ll meet you guys there.”

Derek blinked “Man it’s weird to think you probably know your way around Chicago just as well as I do now.”

Spencer smirked and slid into his car that neither agent had ever seen before, but thankful he had gotten rid of his old failing car and gotten a new, better SUV.


	5. Chapter 5

Spencer pulled out of the garage and into the driveway, waiting for Derek to pull the bureau vehicle out of the driveway and he followed. He kept up, choosing just to follow them all the way there, but was quickly being reminded of why Derek was one of the best emergency vehicle operators in car chases and other pursuits at the bureau.  
When they parked at the station he got out unbuckling his toddler easily before pulling her out, only to have JJ to come up, “Wait, last minute Aunt JJ time before the rest of the team gets to hold her.” Spencer handed her over and pulled his messenger bag out, having let Olivia look at the photo on the car ride. As Derek joined them Spencer couldn’t help but say “You know Morgan, you’ve always been good at car chases, but I think you need a refresher on how to drive when you’re not in one.”  
JJ laughed loudly as Derek shot Spencer a pouty frown before turning and motioning Spencer to come faster.  
Spencer stepped onto the sidewalk as JJ was playing peekaboo with the toddler as they walked and just overall cooing over her. Spencer smiled but knew his daughter was in good hands and turned his attention away from her and to Derek as he pulled the door of the station open, pausing because he didn’t know where to go in the station.   
Derek opened the conference room door and stepped in, setting the laptop on the table as everyone looked up excited and Spencer slowly stepped in.  
Emily raced over to him first, wrapping him in a giant hug, followed by Dave who gave him a quick hug, as did Hotch surprisingly enough.  
Spencer looked around and looked at Hotch confused “No one else?”  
Hotch shook his head “No, we bring in temps if necessary but no one wanted to replace you.”  
Spencer couldn’t help but smile slightly at his family but Emily broke the moment saying “Where the heck is JJ and where is your perfect little daughter?”  
Spencer frowned and looked out the doorway before finding them and turning back around. “JJ is getting water from what looks to be a breakroom and Olivia is with her.”  
A small smile crossed his face when he mentioned his daughter that none of the profilers missed.  
The reunion between profilers, and introductions of the toddler, were happy and fun and she was thrilled with the attention, seeking out her dad every so often, but mostly happy to meet her aunts and uncles she had only seen pictures of. Garcia’s happiness was infectious when she got there, and despite everything, Spencer didn’t have to consciously think to smile, he was actually happy.  
Just as JJ, Spencer, and Derek had been, the team was both horrified by what Olivia had seen and remembered, and hopeful it would be a good enough lead to track their unsub down. Garcia had immediately gotten to work with the victims’ laptops in front of her and her own set up as she worked to try and figure out where the IP address that had been rooting around and pinging the women’s laptops was located.   
Eventually she narrowed it to a 5 mile radius circle and pulled up the list of every white male who lived in the area. Using the physical attributes Olivia had remembered, they had narrowed it down to two men who both fit her description almost perfectly.   
It ended up being a court clerk who was lonely and tired of people going in and getting married and no one paying him a second glance. He confessed and they found that he was choosing one couple from each of the last 5 years, and would have kept going back if he could.   
The case was completely closed the next day, and Spencer was glad he had confessed and they wouldn’t have to try to figure out how to get a 4, by then 5-year-old, to testify that someone murdered her mother.  
A knock came on Spencer’s door early the next morning and a frazzled Spencer opened the door, shocked when he saw the whole team was standing there. He quickly stepped back motioning them in.  
“Hi guys, the case is closed right, did you need anything?”  
Derek smiled “What we aren’t allowed to come visit?”  
“No of course you can, sorry. Just a nightmarish morning, sorry.”  
Just then Olivia started screaming from her high chair in the kitchen again and Spencer rubbed his temples frustrated and gestured to the living room “Make yourself at home while I deal with the princess, give me a couple minutes.”  
He strode quickly back to the kitchen disappearing around the corner as the team exchanged looks, all conveying that they were concerned about him. He looked like he was barely holding himself together by a couple threads and they knew he needed help. They all headed towards where Spencer disappeared, following Morgan and JJ as they had been there before.   
When they turned into the kitchen they saw a frustrated Spencer sitting next to a crying Olivia and took in the scene confusedly.  
Olivia was crying for her mom and Spencer was desperately trying to get her to eat. JJ walked over, putting a soothing hand on Spencer’s back and saying “What’s up, maybe we can help?”  
Spencer shook his head as tears threatened to fall “Everything is a mess, I have so much to do, Olivia is finally figuring out something’s wrong so she’s upset, and Mel usually feeds her breakfast since I’m at the hospital and since she’s not here now she’s refusing to eat for me and she wouldn’t eat dinner last night and I don’t know what to do.”  
JJ pulled Spencer out of his chair and into a tight hug as he let tears fall and slowly relaxed into the comforting hold, barely registering as Hotch expertly cleaned the sobbing toddler’s face and Derek picked her up, walking laps around the kitchen like he’d seen JJ do the first time they were there. The toddler slowly started to settle down in his arms as JJ helped Spencer sit back down at the table. His dark circles were even more pronounced as they hadn’t seen him for two nights and he looked exhausted. He seemed to just then register that Liv had stopped crying and looked around for her, relaxing when he saw her peacefully clinging to Derek’s neck as he walked with her, rubbing her back. Hotch had stepped back and sent a message to Strauss asking for an extra few days in Chicago, as she had been briefed about the new development with Spencer. She was completely supportive, requesting to be kept up to date if she could do anything.  
The team sat around Spencer and Emily rubbed his back “Let us help you, please Spencer, you need someone to help you too, you can’t always be the strong one for your daughter.”  
Spencer nodded, leaning against JJ who was still standing next to his chair and Hotch spoke up “All of us have a few extra days here Reid, how can we help you?”  
Spencer sighed “I don’t even know where to start… I need to figure out funeral arrangements, I need to get a copy of her will, I pretty much know what it says but just in case something’s changed on it. I need to figure out what her parents want, they’ve never really liked me and the local police told me they took care of contacting them but I haven’t heard anything from them, I know I can’t stay in this house, I need to figure out if I want to even stay in Chicago, I was thinking that I would eventually want to come back to DC, maybe this is the best opportunity to do that, let Liv be near more people who care about her, we don’t really have any family here, this is just where Amelia grew up. I need to talk to the hospital and figure out what kind of leave options I have or what kind of notice I need to give to quit if we are moving, and I really need to get Liv to eat breakfast.”  
Spencer sighed and looked up at the table ruefully “So if you can help with any of that it would be amazing.”  
Emily frowned “I know that a lot of that is decisions you have to make, but we can help with some of it. To start with though, you look like you need breakfast just as much as a specific little girl does.”  
Spencer shook his head “I couldn’t eat anything, my stomach’s in knots, I’m so upset.”  
Aaron shook his head “Just have some toast or something small then, and then you need some sleep, it’s obvious you haven’t been sleeping.”  
“I can’t… Liv, she needs me, I can barely stand not being able to see her for more than a few minutes.”  
JJ rubbed his shoulder and said “I think it sounds like you need her just as much but how about we get some food in both of you, and then you both go take a nap, and let us sort some of the rest of your problems out okay?”  
Spencer shook his head “Fine I can’t sleep okay, I don’t feel safe, I mean this house got broken into while I was on the phone with my wife. I heard it happen, shouldn’t I have been able to stop it? Either way I don’t feel safe anymore, I can’t sleep, I need to make sure Liv’s okay. She needs sleep more than me.”  
The team all sighed internally, knowing now that he couldn’t redirect his focus on catching his wife’s killer, he was finally letting himself feel the grief, and he was drowning, unsure how to accept help from anyone.  
JJ spoke “Spencer, there is a whole team of fully trained federal agents in here with guns on their hips, you have some of the best security I’ve ever seen, hell this whole floor has bulletproof glass, and the only windows that don’t are separated by a solid, metal security door now. You. Are. Safe. How much have you slept in the last 2 days anyways?”  
Spencer looked at his lap “Maybe 5 hours.”  
JJ nodded “Exactly, 5 hours out of 48 is not enough, you need food, then sleep, and the rest of us will be here okay, take your gun up to your bedroom if you need to, then it’ll be close by for your peace of mind okay?”  
The team looked confused but chose to let it go, knowing they would ask once they got the young genius to sleep for a little while.  
Spencer sighed but nodded, getting up and putting a piece of bread in the toaster before walking over to Derek to take her back and try to feed her for the 4th time that morning. Hotch paused him “Let us try to feed her, you look like you're about to tear your hair out trying to get her to eat. We’re not her mom, but it’s someone new, someone special, eat your own breakfast okay.”  
Spencer was about to protest but gave in, what could it hurt, worst case, she refused… again, best case, she actually ate and then he could get her to take a nap.  
Spencer walked back over and put some jam and butter on his toast, settling himself at the table with his now cold mug of coffee and the toast, slowly taking a couple bites. Derek sat down with the girl on his lap and she looked up confused at why he stopped walking. Aaron sat in front of her and got a spoonful of oatmeal. After a little coaxing and playing, that the whole team enjoyed watching their boss do, she opened her mouth and he put the spoonful in. She swallowed it quickly before opening her mouth like a little bird for more. He put in another spoonful and she smacked her lips. “Yummy.”  
Aaron smiled indulging the toddler. “Yeah, yummy, you want some more.”  
Olivia nodded “More please.”  
Aaron scooped up some more and Spencer who had been watching with bated breath let out a sigh of relief that his daughter was eating and resumed his own breakfast.  
After 10 more minutes both father and daughter were done eating and Olivia was cleaned up, before toddling to her father’s arms, where he happily scooped her up. JJ stood up as well saying “Alright, both of you, bed.”  
Olivia looked up “Nap time?”  
JJ nodded “That’s exactly right, it’s nap time for you and daddy.”  
“Daddy needs a nap too?”  
“Yup, even big girls and adults need naps sometimes too.”  
“Otay, nap time daddy.”  
Spencer shook his head “I can’t believe you got my daughter turned against me too.”  
JJ made a hurry up motion and Spencer protested “Okay, okay, just let me grab something and then I’ll go get some sleep. Promise.”  
He passed his daughter to Emily for a second who was delighted to hold the girl and disappeared into the mudroom. When they listened closely the adults could hear beeps, followed by more beeps. Something clicked open and then he clinked a couple things, and then they could hear a couple things close, and he reappeared in the kitchen, but with nothing in his hands. Only JJ and Derek knew what he’d grabbed but they didn’t say anything as Spencer paused to grab his daughter “I-I think we’ll lay down in the guest room on this floor, just to feel a little safer.”  
With that he disappeared out of the kitchen and the group moved to the living room to sit down when they heard a door shut somewhere down the hall. Penelope spoke first “I’m confused, what did he get from the mudroom?”  
“His gun, baby girl, after JJ suggested it if he didn’t feel safe, he wanted it near him while he slept just in case.”  
Emily spoke “Which brings me to my question, why does he have a gun and how do you and JJ know about it?”  
“Why? He said that he bought it shortly after leaving the team, he didn’t feel safe without a way to defend himself, and eventually his family, if an unsub came seeking revenge. How did we know? We watched him get it out of a safe when he came with us to come to the station. He normally keeps it locked up when he’s at home and puts it on when he leaves, but I think he just wanted it close to him while he slept.”  
Dave spoke “He brought it to the station?”  
JJ laughed “Yeah, Spence is special alright, he went and got a concealed carry permit, and then got a special addendum that he can carry it anywhere he could carry while he was an agent, so schools, police stations, all that, he can still bring it in. He showed it to Morgan when he said the same thing”  
Dave’s eyebrows rose “Hmm, interesting. I noticed though, he mentioned that he was married for just over 4.5 years, but Olivia is only 3 weeks shy of 5?”  
Derek nodded “I actually asked him about that, he said she was a bit of surprise, they’d actually only gone on a few dates but her birth control failed and they both wanted to keep her no matter what. They tried the relationship and he proposed the day they got back from the hospital, and were married only a couple months later in a small courthouse wedding, but they went all out on their honeymoon.  
Garcia spoke up “I know we can’t decide if he wants to move back to DC or not for him and everything, but said he needs to start planning a funeral, and get a hold of her will. We could probably help with that a little bit.”  
The team nodded and Hotch stepped away to make a call to an old contact of his and Garcia got on one of her laptops, typing quickly.  
After about an hour they all settled back into the living room quietly having accomplished as much as they could. Hotch had coordinated with some of his contacts from his time as a prosecutor, in the chicago field office, who he happened to be very good friends with one of the section chiefs there, and had gotten a copy of the will along with the letter that was attached scheduled to be brought over by dinnertime. Garcia had researched funeral home options both in Chicago and DC for wherever he decided and the rest of the group had brainstormed. As they lapsed into silence Derek asked “Why Chicago, I’m the only one on the team with family here, it doesn’t make any sense?”  
Emily spoke up “Exactly, he’s near your family if he desperately needed somewhere safe or to contact us and couldn’t, and you know that you two were closest, probably just barely higher than JJ. He didn’t want to forget the team, he just needed to get away for a while, Chicago’s perfect, he actually hinted to it before he left, we were too upset to notice, I just realized that.”  
JJ looked at her “What do you mean?”  
“He talked about when Derek dragged him to see his family for christmas instead of spending it alone, and to like the cold more. Both were good memories of Chicago with Derek and his family.”  
The team all nodded, finally understanding why he had chosen where he had to get away.  
Derek spoke up “That reminds me, my momma knows I’m in chicago on a case and is not happy none of us have come to visit, even though I told her it was important for us to focus on the case, so even if Reid’s not up for it, we need to visit before we head back to DC.”  
The team nodded and smiled, all looking forward to seeing mama morgan.  
Spencer came into the room carrying a still soundly asleep toddler in his arms and not looking much more awake himself as he laid her down on the couch, tucking her in and shuffling to the kitchen, returning quickly with a large mug of coffee before sitting next to his daughter. He yawned before looking up and saying “Okay, I don’t believe you all just sat there while I napped, what’s up?”  
Hotch spoke first “I got in touch with a couple people, Amelia’s will and the attached letter are on their way here. Garcia did some looking for funeral services both here and in DC depending on what you decide. JJ managed to track down her parents and they’re expecting your call sometime tonight.”  
Spencer groaned “Oh good. I can’t wait. Let’s just get that over with now.”  
JJ handed him a slip of paper with a new phone number that he typed in and set the phone on the table on speaker as he wrapped another blanket around himself as he yawned again trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes.  
“Hello?”  
“Hello Mrs. Mason, this is Spencer.”  
“Oh, right, yes, that woman told us to expect your call. What did you need us for?”  
Spencer rolled his eyes and rubbed his forehead as he said “I simply wanted to know if you had any interest in planning Amelia’s funeral services or if you would prefer to leave it up to me. Or if you had any preferences about her burial location and the like.”  
“She had a will, correct?”  
“Yes ma’am. Which I will be looking over tonight, but I haven’t had the chance yet, I simply wanted to enquire about your wishes.”  
“Our wish was for you to never marry our daughter, look how well that turned out.”  
“Mrs. Mason, I loved your daughter with my whole heart, I still do. Surely you could see past your dislike of me to assist with your daughter’s affairs.”  
“Her father and I will be at the funeral, just let us know when and where. I have no interest in planning anything to do with her anymore, especially since she seemed so confident you could handle it all, I’m sure you can. Goodbye Spencer.”  
The line clicked as she hung up and Spencer sighed rubbing his forehead against the headache that was trying to push its way in. Derek spoke up “That was her mother?”  
“The one and only. Would it be bad to point out that it went far better than I had expected it would?”  
Emily’s jaw dropped “Seriously? Even at me and my mother’s worst she still would have been involved in my funeral, hell she probably would’ve taken over the whole thing and planned it herself.”  
Spencer smiled “I actually see a lot of similarities between the women. I have often thought of her as an extra over-the-top version of the Ambassador prior to your reconciliation.”  
Emily shook her head but said nothing as Spencer started to quickly scroll through what Penelope had found. The doorbell rang and Olivia stirred on the couch and shifted over more onto Spencer’s lap, but he easily got her to settle back down on the couch as Aaron got up to answer it. Aaron came back in with a large manilla envelope and handed it to Spencer who smiled gratefully and pulled the papers inside. Some were obviously the will, while there were 2 small white envelopes lying on top handwritten by Amelia.  
Spencer grabbed the one that said ‘Spencer’ first and as he quickly read the paper tears started dripping down his face, significantly slowing down his progress in reading it. He flipped the first one over to continue reading it, smiling or crying harder at certain parts until he finally got to the end and set it aside as he tried to dry his tears.  
He composed himself and the first thing he did was bend over and kiss the back of his daughter’s head and whisper “Your mama loves you, always baby girl, I’m so sorry I couldn't keep her safe.”  
He sat back up and looked around at the assembled group “Amelia, she knew I would be going in circles over what to do, so she helped me figure out what I wanted in the letter for me, and she wrote a letter for Amelia that I’m supposed to give her on her first day of high school. She, we’d been talking a lot over the last couple of months about me getting back in real contact with you guys, and maybe eventually moving back to DC. I love it here in Chicago, but it’s not home, not in the way that DC or Vegas have been, and I don’t think I could go back to living in Vegas permanently, it’s a lot. She knew why I moved from DC, but she said that if something had happened to her, I would need to go back to you guys, and let you support me when she couldn’t, and that if I didn’t think I’d be happy staying here in Chicago, maybe it was the universe's way of telling me to move on and move back to DC. I-I think I’m going to do it. Liv has friends here, but she’s only 4, and I think she’ll be okay, and I just can’t see being able to live in this house at least, without Amelia here.”  
The team smiled, letting him talk out what he wanted as he came to the conclusion they all had guessed earlier that day, Chicago was a safe, happy escape, but he needed his extended family more than ever right now.  
“She also had a little note on there, that said when I decided I didn’t want to stay in Chicago like she knew I would, that I should bury her closer to where we move so that she won’t be so far away.”  
The team all smiled, liking the woman they had never gotten to meet, but knowing she sounded like an amazing woman.  
Garcia nodded and took her computer back, pulling up a couple different things and saying “Okay so maybe some of us predicted you might want to leave Chicago, so these are some of the best options for funeral planning in DC. Do you have a laptop around here?”  
“Yeah in my office, I’ll go grab it… actually can one of you guys get it, it should just be sitting on the desk?”  
Derek got up to grab it and quickly returned, having remembered where the office was from a couple days prior. He handed it to Spencer who opened it and said “Alright, now what?”  
“Now nothing, you sit there while I send all this to your laptop.”  
A few minutes later her screen displayed on his and she closed it off of hers.  
“Okay 187, your 2 jobs, look through all those and see who you think is better, and start planning how you want the burial or cremation to work. Before that though, your second, or rather first task is to give me general guidelines to start searching for a home and when Olivia wakes up she can add her own ideas. Meanwhile Dave makes us lunch and the rest of you, I don’t know, entertain yourselves.”  
Spencer laughed and said “Okayyy, got it ummm houses, definitely on the bigger side, I always wanted to own one just for the heck of it, though not quite as big as this one, that’s a little much for just me and Liv. 4+ bedrooms, at least 3.5 baths, a decent backyard, that I can fence in so no HOA saying no fences, either a pool or space to put one in, preferably little renovation, minor stuff I’ll just make Derek do, but I want to pretty much be able to move in.”  
Garcia blinked “You’ve thought about that haven’t you?”  
“Like I said, Amelia and I had talked about if I ever wanted to get back to the FBI and I was thinking about trying the field office here, or maybe moving back near Quantico. Mel was never close with her parents and had no particular interest in staying here other than she just didn’t have somewhere else she wanted to move to, and I missed you guys, so we had actually talked about moving to DC and reconnecting somewhere in the near future.”  
Garcia nodded “Okayyy. I will get on that. Price limits or location preferences?”  
“Price, don't worry about it, location…. Maybe somewhere in Stafford county or a little further out? Try to keep it about 45 minutes or less away from the Quantico or DC area, but not right on top of them, I’d like a little distance.”  
JJ couldn’t stop her laughter and even the other team members couldn’t smother their grins.  
Spencer looked confused “What?”  
Penelope grinned “You wanted to look in the Stafford area, um, a couple of us have moved since you left and Hotch and Jack live about 7 minutes away from JJ, Will, and Henry and Emily moved into the area near them. Dave, Derek, and I haven’t moved though.”  
Spencer smiled “Then maybe it’s the perfect area to look.”  
Penelope nodded “Alright, will do my vanilla bean, now you work too, Dave, lunch.”  
“Wait when did I volunteer for that?”  
Derek spoke up “Just before Pretty Boy volunteered me to help renovate whatever he needs in his new house.”  
Both Penelope and Spencer looked slightly sheepish but then Garcia waved her hand at Dave “What, you’re the best cook and it’s lunch time.”  
Dave rolled his eyes and got up to go see what Spencer had in the kitchen.  
About 45 minutes later, Penelope looked up from her working as did Spencer who said somberly, “Okay, I think I like this one the best but I had an idea, um Mel’s church, they have this wall of plaques on a back wall that some people get and bury their family in the church’s graveyard, but I was thinking, what if I got a plaque for her even though I’m burying her in DC, it would be both place then, where she grew up and where we’re moving on?”  
JJ smiled at him gently and said “I think that’s a good idea Spence.”  
Olivia was waking up and pushed herself up to Spencer and whispered in his ear. He smiled at her and looked at the group and said “We’ll be right back.”  
He took her to the bathroom, returning quickly and she ran, well as fast as a toddler can, over to a dollhouse she had in the corner of the living room, plopping herself down to play with it. JJ and Emily both migrated over to play with the little girl who was thrilled and Garcia handed Spencer her computer, “Okay, I found 5 different options. 2 are kind of mansion-y and on massive plots of land, 2 others are at the middle of the options, are less isolated and on about half acre plots of land, plus or minus a little, and one is on a smaller plot of land and about 2 thousand square feet smaller so depending on what size you want. All are 3 floors, 2 floors plus a basement. All but one of them are in Stafford, that one is in Fredericksburg so just on the edge of the 45 minute limit. A couple are pretty near the neighborhoods bossman and JJ live in, but I’m not telling which, because I want to see if you follow the trends right now.”  
Spencer nodded and took the offered laptop from her, setting it on his lap to look through.  
After 10 minutes he spoke up “Alright the ones on Drummers Cove and Genevieve Court are out. That is way too much land, and I don’t like how they seem very sectioned up and closed off inside.”  
Garcia smiled “Thank God, I was hoping you wouldn’t like either of them, but I wasn’t sure how much land you wanted.”  
Spencer nodded “I think the one on Sanctuary is out too, I want a little more land.”  
Garcia nodded “Okay, so down to two?”  
Spencer nodded and looked up “Derek, have you flipped any houses in the area recently?”  
“No, but there’s a couple I’ve had my eye on. Stafford and a couple other areas are growing in popularity really fast. There’s one that’s near Hotch’s house that I’ve been looking at, I toured it the other day actually, so I would be careful, some of the houses around there have been updated to the rising popularity and are fine, other’s definitely need more work. The one I’m looking at there isn’t in need of a ton, just some paint and appearances work, but the structure and everything is pretty good. Why do you want me to suggest a couple more?”  
“No, just look at these two, I think I’m leaning towards the slightly smaller one on more land, but just from the pictures, are there any major flaws in design or anything.”  
Spencer handed the computer over and Derek laughed “I’ve actually been looking at buying both of these as quick flips just for some amusement, because neither actually need much work. They're both good, the one on Brannigan has been on the market longer, you could probably talk them to a lower price while the one on Bradbury is pretty new to the market. I’m sure you saw the one on Bradbury is in desperate need of new, not puke green and neon orange paint, and new curtains and such, but mostly cosmetic things. Brannigan, there were a couple walls I would probably take out, and maybe change some flooring and some paint, but there’s no structural issues with either, they're both nice. They’re big though, on decent land, and both fenced in, though I might replace the fence in the backyard on both, depending on what you want it to look like.”  
Spencer nodded and said “Yeah, both fences kind of look like they’re falling apart. The yard on Bradbury bothers me a little, I don’t like the slope. I’m leaning towards the one on Brannigan, but I feel like I need to do a walk through first.”  
Derek nodded “That makes sense. Do you think there’s going to be any kind of demo you want to do or anything?”  
Spencer nodded and the two went into an in depth discussion over whatever, while the rest of the team all pulled out their own laptops, working on their case files.  
By the end of that day, Spencer had made funeral arrangements for a week from that day back in DC, had sorted out getting a plaque on the memorial wall at the church for Amelia, figured out where he wanted to move, and at Derek’s urging, put a tentative offer in on the house, on the condition he could walk through it before the sale was finalized and if the pictures were hiding some major damage or something, he could withdraw the offer. The team went back to the hotel that night, making plans to come by again the next morning.  
The next morning was similarly both lazy and productive for the first half of the day, with Spencer resigning from his job, and though his boss was sorry for him to leave, the whole city had seen the murders on the news, and couldn’t fault the young man for wanting to get out of the city. Olivia had been eager to move, until she realized that meant her babysitter Alyssa wouldn’t be her sitter anymore and she wouldn’t see her again, but had decided being near all her aunts and uncles she recently met would be okay.


End file.
